


Self Insert

by Rueitae



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, It gets out of control, Lance tells his niece and nephew a bedtime story, Pre-Voltron: Legendary Defender, and a little meta, in the style of the monsters and mana episode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-28
Updated: 2018-07-28
Packaged: 2019-06-17 14:55:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15463890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rueitae/pseuds/Rueitae
Summary: Lance spends the last night of spring break with his niece and nephew. They want their uncle to tell them a story - but also have Opinions on how it should go.





	Self Insert

**Author's Note:**

> Months ago, [Engineer104](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Engineer104) and I had a conversation about a bedtime story gone completely wrong. This is the result. Finished for Lance's birthday week 2018.

Lance whistled an upbeat tune. He tapped his feet, his body swaying as he rinsed his face with a washcloth one last time, making sure all mask residue was off his skin. He gave the bathroom mirror a winning smile once finished.

“Lookin’ good! Lancey Lance is ready to hit the town and live up the high life.” He winked and clicked his tongue while shooting practiced finger-guns at his reflection.

In the morning he’d be headed back to Galaxy Garrison for another semester - and his first full one as an official fighter pilot. Tonight though, Veronica and Luis were set to join him at some of their favorite childhood haunts for nostalgia’s sake. They’d already spent the full day at the beach with the entire family and had a meal full of Lance’s favorite foods. Now the sun had nearly set to give way to fun for the young adults only.

Deeming himself sufficiently ready, he turned off the lights to the hallway bathroom and exited, only to nearly get bowled over by his two tiniest relatives. He jumped up flat against the wall best he could in surprise. The small figures ran past him, his niece waving a dustpan and his nephew holding what might have been their father’s wallet.

“Take that, Evildoer! With my magic spell you’ll never steal the seashell!”

“I’m not beaten yet!” Ricardo twisted around in the middle of the hallway, the pillowcase he used as a cape flying off his back. He give his sister the best evil smirk he could and held out the wallet in front of him. “I attack you with the Amulet of Friendship!”

Adora dramatically clutched her chest, stuck her tongue out, and twirled around before dropping to the floor. “It’s...too strong…”

Lance relaxed and gave the two a bemused smile. “Looks like the good guys win, huh?”

His niece went from lying flat on her back to sitting upright as if nothing had happened. “Naw, Ricky is playing the bad guy. The good guys tried to turn his friends against him through questionable methods.”

Lance’s face twisted in befuddlement, an eyebrow raised as the words of his young niece sunk in. “What have you two been watching?”

“Cartoons,” Ricardo shrugged. 

“Just cartoons huh?” Lance mused. He made a show of thinking before giving the kids a mischievous grin. He loved his brother’s kids with all his heart and the sight of the two of them having fun brought out his own playfulness. He squatted to their level, arms resting casually on his knees - his eyebrows raised in smugness. “Better than my stories?”

Adora gasped audibly, eyes wide in terror. Out of any other person the action might have been overly dramatic, but Lance knew this was just her. “Nothing is better than your stories, Uncle Lance!”

“Tell us one tonight!” Ricardo begged, tugging on Lance’s well-loved jacket. “We miss you while you’re away.”

Lance frowned. “Well, I was going to go out with your dad, but how could I possibly say no to you two?” he finished with an affectionate smile.

The reaction was immediate. The siblings whooped and cheered. 

Lance stood, smile still in place. He was mildly sad he’d have to cancel on his own siblings, but he knew they wouldn’t mind. Besides, now that he wasn’t around for most of the year, he had to pull big favors if he wanted to remain the favorite uncle. 

“No story until you both are washed up and in your pajamas. Your mama would kill me,” Lance stressed. And his brother’s wife had such an impeccable death glare at times, Lance felt he could be vaporized on the spot. 

Thankfully that was the stuff of science fiction and fantasy.

Lance hummed in thought, a wily grin slowly growing as Adora and Ricardo dropped everything to brush their teeth - wanting to get story time on way. Perhaps he could use that…

~~~~~

After seeing his siblings off, Lance made himself comfortable on Ricardo’s bed, his audience for the night doing the same. Well-worn sheets with images of spaceships and stars surrounded him - a familiar comfort as they used to belong to him. Lance propped his head up enough to hold the favored book on his stomach. His legs stretched out across the rest of the bed.

Adora dug herself under the covers, snuggling up as close as possible under his arm. Ricardo took the other side, sitting upright against the headboard.

“Are you going to do the evil witch voice again?” Ricardo asked excitedly.

“If that’s what the audience desires!” Lance responded, flipping open the cover and to the chapter index.

Adora giggled. “That’s my favorite one.”

Excited to get started, Lance ran his finger down the first page of the prologue, his tongue sticking out the side of his mouth in scrutiny. The book was a classic tale of a knight, a dragon, and a princess. It was a story he’d heard a hundred times as a child and performed as many times for his niece and nephew. He knew it by heart at this point, and so did they.

A pang surrounded his heart. As much as he loved going to school at Galaxy Garrison and training to be a pilot, he missed this - the quiet nights with his family. Once he graduated, he’d likely stay in the desert too. Cargo and fighter pilots alike used it as a base of operations right out of school. If he could hold out for a few years, he had the chance to be transferred to the Garrison base near home. It was just such a long wait.

So, tonight, he was going to give his favorite youngsters a treat to help remember him by.

He cleared his throat. “Once upon a time, there was a great and most well-loved knight. His name,” he paused for dramatic effect, making an effort to look for both of their reactions, “was Lance.”

Adora gasped, which quickly turned into giggles. “That’s not the knight’s name!” she protested weakly.

Ricardo was much more skeptical than his sister. “You can’t name the knight after yourself, Uncle Lance.”

“I’m not naming him after myself,” Lance retorted. “I am the knight,” he finished smugly. 

Silence. Crickets chirped outside, and a cool ocean breeze rustled the thin curtains framing the open window.

“Boorrrrriinnnng,” Adora drawled. 

“What?!” Lance squawked. “It is not boring! Don’t you want to see your coolest uncle beat the dragon?”

“You’re not really knight-like, Uncle Lance,” Ricardo said flatly. “They always stick to the same princess, and you’ve never even had a girlfriend.”

Adora fell into another fit of giggles while Lance indignantly glared at his nephew. “Ha. Ha. Just you wait, one of these days I might just bring home a princess and you’ll eat your words then.”

“Name the knight after someone else. What about your roommate?” Ricardo suggested. 

Lance laughed sharply, a mirthful tear in his eye. “Hunk would destroy me. He’s not the adventurous type. The knight has to go on dangerous adventures. The wrong move could - could - “ 

The wrong move could really hurt, Lance thought with a far off look in his eye. And if there was one person in the entire universe he wanted to stick it to right at that moment, he knew just the aloof former top-of-the-class pilot that he wanted very much to escape the shadow of.

Lance turned the page with a sly smile. “Sir Keith had been searching far and wide for the dreaded black dragon. His adventures had been fraught with hardship and peril. He reached the cave where the dragon was rumored to have lived, hungry and weak from his most recent battle…”

~

Keith could not believe his bad luck that, for the third time that day, he tripped on a rock or twig that he swore hadn’t been there moments before. He hoped whatever curse had been put on him would abate soon as he gazed upon the mouth of the cave. 

He closed his eyes and allowed himself a few calming breaths. Patience yields focus, he repeated to himself. On the last breath he inhaled a bug, falling into a coughing and gagging. 

Maybe this wasn’t the best day to fight the terror of the three kingdoms. 

The decision was taken out of his hands as a mighty roar originated from the cave, the force pushing Keith onto his back. He yelped in pain as he landed on rocks that were especially sharp. 

He didn’t have time to dwell on his misfortune. People were counting on him to be rid of the dragon. 

Smoke billowed around the cave entrance and from amidst it, the great black dragon came forth. Its glowing purple eyes were full of malice, offended that Keith would even dare approach it. 

“I’m not going to let you hurt anyone anymore!” Keith shouted. He brandished his sword and held his shield out in front of him. 

The dragon roared once again, incensed. For the briefest of moments, their eyes locked and Keith gasped in shock. 

“Shiro?” he whispered fearfully.

~

“Woah, woah, woah. Hold on. The dragon can’t be Shiro. Shiro’s a hero!” Lance complained to a sea of laughter. Pilot error or not, the man was an inspiration to every cadet in the Garrison - Lance included. It didn’t feel right to turn the man into that cheap of a plot device so soon after he’d been lost.

“He doesn’t wanna be a dragon,” Ricado explained. He shifted to his knees and jumped in excitement at the new plot development. “The bad guys turned him evil.”

“Keith has to save him,” Adora joined in. “He has to say something Shiro will remember. Then he’ll be good again.”

Lance growled in minor annoyance. “Okay, fine,” he said dispassionately. “Keith gives the classic hero speech, Shiro comes to his senses, and they go off to rescue the princess together. Which, I want to point out, will be really super easy with a dragon. That’s not a very fun story.”

“They can go on a side quest!” Ricardo said excitedly. “And meet a whole bunch of people. We can tell our own story!”

“I thought you wanted cool Uncle Lance to tell you the story?” Lance asked with a playful nudge. 

“You already changed the knight’s name and made him clumsy,” Adora said. “Hunk can help them!” 

“Yeah do it! Add Hunk!” Ricardo joined enthusiastically. 

Lance sighed. “Okay, but when he hears about this he’s going to have an ulcer.”

~

Hunk blanched as he slowly craned his neck to look up...up...and up at the gigantic black dragon that sat before him. It didn’t matter that the dragon was well-behaved, at attention, and very nicely not rampaging through the village. 

Keith coughed to get his attention. “So uh, is it okay if we spend the night?”

“Dude,” Hunk told him frankly. “The dragon is bigger than my inn. Even if he could fit, he breathes fire, and the whole place would burn down.”

“I can control it,” Shiro said. Hunk jumped twice his height in surprise. 

“I’m fine sleeping outside,” Keith compromised. “I’ll pay for a meal for both of us.”

Hunk’s face fell, ashamed. “There’s some livestock at the farm over the hill. I’ll pay them back later - just don’t have too many. My friend will not be happy.”

“Thanks,” Keith said with a smile as Shiro lifted himself into the air to grab dinner. “I’ve heard great things about your inn. You really have something other than food goo?”

Hunk puffed up. “I would never serve that tasteless muck.” He wrapped an arm around Keith’s shoulder. “My friend, allow me to introduce you to the wonders of the deconstructed burrito…”

~

“Did they really have burritos in knight-times?” Adora asked.

“Of course they did,” Lance said as if it were obvious. “They had all the ingredients, they just had to put them all together.”

Ricardo rolled his eyes. “No way.”

“And all they ate was green mush? Food goo, really?” Lance asked back.

“Green is my favorite color,” he said proudly. “And it’s gooey, not mushy.”

Lance didn’t bother arguing further. His plans at telling his own story had derailed, but the kids seemed to be having fun with it and he wasn’t going to destroy their creative juices. He was enjoying it if they were. 

“Well, at least Keith is getting the best dinner of his life,” he grumbled. He loved his mother’s cooking, but Hunk had a gift for taste. A gift that Lance regularly benefitted from and that his mother highly approved of. (‘It will keep him from being too skinny’, she’d said when dropping him off at the dorms for the first time, ‘he’s in good hands.’)

“You can have some too, Uncle Lance! You work with Hunk at the inn!” Adora chimed in.

“I do?” he asked, eyebrow raised. “You’ll let me be in the story now?”

“Yup!” Ricardo said, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “But only because you’re a thief and you tried to steal from Hunk. So now you’re helping cook to make up for it.”

“Whaaaat? That’s not fair,” Lance wailed. This was not how his hero story was supposed to begin.

“You keep saying you’d do anything for one of his cookies,” Adora said.

“Okay, that is true,” Lance conceded. “But can’t I be something cool at least? And a little more heroic?”

“A ninja assassin!” Ricardo said with a grin. “You’re just a thief because you’re hiding your real mission.”

Lance grinned. “Now that I can get behind.”

~

“I don’t like him, he’s fishy,” Lance declared, leaning forward across the table and giving Keith the stink-eye.

“I haven’t been around fish for nearly a month? I’ve been traveling?” Keith answered, extremely confused. 

The two sat across from each other as Hunk served them both burritos, and then sitting down to enjoy one himself. “So like, you’re on a quest to save the princess?”

Keith shrugged. “My task was to make the kingdoms safe from the dragon. I’m good.”

“Wait, there’s a princess to be saved?” Lance asked, increasingly more curious. “If you’re not going to save her, I will,” he declared, pointing a thumb at his puffed up chest.

“No, you’re not,” Hunk said, brows furrowed. “I still haven’t forgiven you for trying to steal the heart of my oven.”

“You are using a dragon stone - the most powerful of all magic gems that can do literally anything you want - to run an oven,” Lance said blandly. “You are asking for it to be swiped. Which is why,” he said, perking up and throwing an arm on Hunk’s shoulder, “you are lucky to have a good bud like me looking out for you. No one is gonna steal it from the master thief here.”

“Maybe you can help my quest,” Keith said. “I’m going to find the witch that cursed Shiro and get his human form back. I need braver and more skilled adventurers than I.”

~

“Would a knight really say that?” Ricardo asked, eyebrow raised in suspicion. 

“Well, Keith is going to say it,” Lance said, emphasizing his rival’s name. “How else are Hunk and I going to get on the quest?”

“I have an idea!” Adora said with glee. “The Witch destroys the inn!”

Lance hummed in thought. “That’s a good idea. How do you guys want her to do it?”

The siblings scanned the room looking for answers. “Oh!” Ricardo eventually exclaimed. “It gets hit by a meteor, and it’s magic so it burns the whole building down!”

“But you have to do the Witch’s voice! She taunts them about still having the princess!” Adora said, tugging on Lance’s shirt, pleading.

Lance ruffled her hair. “Of course I will. So the witch cursed Shiro into a dragon and has the princess hostage?”

“Two princesses!” Adora continued, getting excited. “Two princesses are better than one.”

“Of course!” Lance agreed, matching her enthusiasm. “The Witch is going to have a lot to handle with all these heroes and juggling all the captives. Do you think she should gloat and give them a clue?”

“Yeah! The bad guys always give that big speech! You gotta have her do the bad guy talk!” Ricardo agreed.

“The classic monologue,” Lance said in a purposefully menacing tone, a single eyebrow raised and a smirk to match. “You guys got it!”

~~

Hunk fell to his knees, sobbing as he watched his tavern become a bonfire. “My kitchen…”

“Hey, it’ll be okay man,” Lance said, patting his friend comfortingly on the back. “Maybe this is life telling you to get your butt out there and have an adventure.”

“I don’t want to have an adventure, Lance. I want to run my inn,” he cried.

Shiro returned from his meal and landed beside them, stirring up dust all around the group. If a dragon ever could look sheepish, Shiro did. “I didn’t do it,” he insisted. 

“That’s some...pretty bad luck having a meteor hit your inn specifically,” Keith added less than helpfully.

Hunk cried harder. 

In a single dramatic burst, the flame around the building turned green and a nasally voice filled the air.

“Poor, poor adventurers,” said the Witch. “You will never complete your mission. As a sympathy gift, I give you one of the princesses - but you will never get the other! I look forward to your suffering!” Her evil laugh screeched, forcing the humans and dragon to cover their ears in pain.

The flame dissipated almost as quickly as it had appeared. Among the smoldering ruins of the tavern lay the glowing purple dragon stone, and the sickly green meteor that had destroyed the building in the first place. 

“I don’t see a princess,” Lance remarked, his shoulders slumping in disappointment. 

“The Witch was probably lying,” Keith said. “Let’s gather what we can and move out.” He stepped to head towards the ashes, but soon found himself tripping over a tree root and landing flat on his face. 

Shiro loomed over and picked up the dragon stone between his claws. “Something is happening to the meteor,” he said. “I think...I think its hatching.”

“What? Like, like an egg?” Hunk asked. His tears were not quite dry, but his curiosity willed him to walk over and examine the situation. 

All four of them crowded around the meteor, made strange by the black spikes that stuck out of it. Shiro had been right, it was wiggling - seemingly about to hatch. Truly it was very alien. 

It wiggled three more times before it cracked. First a very thin line, but soon split wide open, revealing a girl asleep in the center. She wore a crown of flowers in her reddish brown hair and a green and orange dress, glasses upon her face--.

~

“Wait, hold on here,” Lance said, pausing the story and dropping the book onto his lap in protest. “My comm spec is not a girl. Pidge is a boy. I know I’ve told you guys this.”

“But there’s too many boys in the story already,” Adora complained. “And Pidge could pass for a girl if he wanted to.”

Lance frowned. So much for telling this story to the guys when he got back. Pidge hated him enough already; this would be just one more thing to get in the way of total team bonding. “Okay, fine. But if either of them ever come visit I am swearing you two to secrecy.” 

He wasn’t sure if he quite trusted their cherubic smiles, but it would have to do. 

“So Pidge is one of the princesses,” Lance recapped. “Is she an alien princess since she came from a meteor?” he asked, egging the two on. If they were going to be this engaged might as well have them tell the rest of the story. 

Ricardo’s eyes lit up. “No, the other princess is an alien! The Witch is too! You gotta go to space to save her.”

Lance laughed. “Well, it's a good thing yours truly is the best pilot in the Garrison,” he said smugly. “We’ll just grab a spaceship and plot a course right?”

“Really, Uncle Lance?,” Ricardo said. “You’re gonna use a regular spaceship when you have a dragon with you? Shiro isn’t going to be able to fit.”

“There has to be a big enough spaceship somewhere in our story. We’re not leaving Shiro behind,” Lance insisted. 

“You don’t need a spaceship - Shiro can fly you there!” Adora said excitedly. “He’s big enough to carry all of you!”

“Oh yeah!” Ricardo agreed enthusiastically. “Shiro IS the spaceship!”

~

“Is everyone on safely?” Shiro asked.

Hunk fidgeted, trying to find the most comfortable position leaning against one of the many spikes on Shiro’s back. “Are you guys sure you want me to hold the princess?” He pointed to the sleeping girl, her head resting on his stomach. “I’m pretty sure I’m going to barf at least three times on this trip.”

“Keith can hold her,” Lance said. “I need my hands free to steer us in the right direction,” he bragged. 

“You can’t pilot Shiro,” Keith argued. “Besides, you’re not even a pilot. You’re a thief.”

“I happen to be a man of many talents,” Lance growled, arms crossed. “Shiro might need help! You never know!”

“Uh guys,” Hunk started. 

Keith’s expression turned incredulous. “You can’t just treat Shiro like a tamed horse!”

“I’m not!” Lance defended readily. “He just might not know the way!”

“And like you do?!” Keith said, voice rising. 

“Guys, I really think - “

“Sure I do! Its--” Lance’s eyes darted around, trying to come up with the perfect response. His gaze landed on Hunk and the glowing green princess in his arms.

Glowing green?

“Hunk, why is the princess glowing like that?” he asked instead.

Keith glared. “Don’t change the sub - “ He blinked, anger quickly fading, when he also beheld the strange sight. “Oh. Valid question.”

“I don’t know,” Hunk said frankly. “I’ve been trying to tell you guys and she keeps getting brighter.”

“The dragon stone is also responding, I think.” Shiro lifted the purple stone for all to see. “I feel strange.”

The world then shifted around them. Their surroundings blurred together like a well-used painter’s palette. It was as if they were in the center of a whirlwind. 

“Uh…” Hunk groaned. “I hate spinning rides…”

~

“You guys are super mean,” Lance said. “I should have never told you about the state fair incident.”

The siblings continued to cackle. Adora sobbed tears of laughter onto Lance’s sleeve and her feet swished back and forth, wrinkling the covers. Ricardo had jumped off the bed, and now jumped back on it, bouncing on his knees in delight. 

“You can steal him some magic tonic later,” his nephew consoled - a wicked grin still plastered on his face. 

Adora’s giggles trickled to a more manageable pace for her to speak. “Hunk will be okay. The magic doesn’t make him sick. The dragon stone made it good magic.”

“Good magic, huh?” Lance wondered. “So there was a spell on the princess that teleported us all somewhere - and the dragon stone made it so Hunk didn’t get motion sickness?”

“It also got you to the Witch’s castle!” Ricardo declared. “If not for the dragon stone, the Witch was gonna trap you in between time!”

Lance turned his head to Adora as she gasped excitedly. “Dimensions!”

Ricardo gave his sister a suspicious look. “You’ve been watching grandpapa’s movies without me!” he accused. 

“The ones that run on the Blu-Ray player?” Lance asked. “How do you know how to work that old thing?”

“The phone has an app for it!” she told them proudly. 

A knock at the door interrupted Lance’s line of questioning. His mother’s face poked through as it opened partially, her hand still on the doorknob ready to close again. This was a warning, Lance realized from experience. He’d have to wrap up the story soon.

“I know you three are having fun, but it is well past all of your bedtimes,” she scolded. “Lance your flight is early tomorrow and you haven’t even packed!”

“Don’t worry, Mom, I’ve got it covered,” he reassured her as he’d done time and time again as a child, confident smirk firmly in place. “Everything I’m taking back is in a pile in my closet. I just have to throw it in my suitcase and I’m done.”

His mother narrowed her eyes suspiciously before releasing a great sigh. “Finish the story,” she settled on. “Make sure your uncle gets to bed you two.”

Lance opened his mouth in protest that he should be the responsible one getting the siblings to bed, but the kids beat him to it.

“Okay!”

“Promise!”

Their responses still ringing in the air, she closed the door, once again letting the storytellers take over. 

“You heard the boss,” Lance said, still slightly miffed. (He could never stay upset with his mother for long.) He made a show of clearing his throat, and continued narration in his most dramatic of voices.

“Caught off guard by the sudden appearance of our valiant heroes, the Witch was ill prepared for the great onslaught. Shiro blazed fire and lightning from his mouth,” Lance breathed in deep and blew air in the face of Adora. She giggled as her hair tossed about on her face. He did the same for Ricardo. The boy jumped off the bed, laughing with anticipation and only climbing back on top of the covers when Lance went back to the story. 

“The brave ninja-assassin Lance threw knives that imbedded into key points in the castle wall,” he said quickly, mimicking the speed at which the action was happening in story. “Hunk followed after and with one punch was able to knock down a huge section - allowing the heroes inside.”

“What about the Witch? Did she follow you inside?” Adora asked, a tremor in her voice with worry. 

Lance hummed in thought. He had just given Hunk an awesome role. If he wanted to offer the branch of friendship to Pidge, maybe giving him a cool part of the action would help smooth over the whole part about being a princess. 

He grinned and raised his hands, forming makeshift claws behind the head of each child. “Just as the heroes thought that they had outrun the Witch,” he said as his hands inched towards the backs of the children, “she ambushed them from behind!”. The siblings giggled hysterically while their uncle tickled them, simulating the attack. 

“But hope was not lost,” Lance continued. “Princess Pidge woke up and countered the dark magic with a spell of her own - giving the heroes enough time to go deeper into the castle…”

~

“Do none of you know magic?” Pidge asked, eyebrow raised skeptically. Her condescending gaze held them captive while deciding which direction to take. 

“Nope, and I don’t want it,” Hunk said quickly, crossing his arms in an x pattern. 

Lance held his hands to his hips. “And I suppose you’re the expert?”

Pidge smirked. “Actually, I am.” She adjusted her glasses, smug look remaining. “It's a good thing you brought me, otherwise you wouldn’t be able to find the alien princess.”

“If you’re such an expert, how come we had to save you?” Lance snarked. 

Pidge narrowed her eyes, puffed up, and glared. “I dare you to say that again a little louder.”

A giant black claw belonging to Shiro sat down in between them all. “No time. The Witch will be back soon. We need to find the princess and leave. Pidge, do you know where she might be?”

“Know?” she smirked. “I can do you one better. I’ll take you there.”

Pressing a hand flat against the stone wall, bright green energy spiraled out. Golden sparks twinkled in areas where the green entered the cracks between stone blocks. One bright flash later, a circle as large as Shiro fixed itself to the wall. Pidge let go, and the others were left with their jaws open watching the green energy in the middle swirl like water. 

Pidge wiped the sweat from her brow, breathing heavy. “This will take us right to the princess. We have to wake her before the Witch finds out The princess has the power to defeat her!”

~

“...and so they all went through the magic portal to where the alien princess slept in captivity - Keith was last, since he tripped on a loose stone.”

“Is Keith that clumsy in real life?” Ricardo asked. 

Lance shrugged. “Who knows? He was always running into trouble. You two want to hear the end of the story right?”

Adora yawned loudly and rolled into her uncle’s side. “Everyone gets out safe…” she mumbled. 

“You’re gonna miss the cool alien princess, Sis!”

Lance’s heart melted, a soft smile featured on his face. “I think it's time to wrap up this story. We all need to get to bed,” he said, giving his niece light scratches through her hair. 

Ricardo pouted, tugging on Lance’s sleeve. “But I need to know what happens!”

“Well, Pidge just told everyone,” Lance said. “The alien princess has super powers. The heroes woke her up and when the Witch caught up to them, she didn’t stand a chance. Not with all of our special abilities. Even Keith got a crucial cut with his sword.”

Ricardo frowned, unconvinced. “So happily ever after?”

“You bet,” Lance winked. His confident exterior betrayed his own feelings of the incomplete story. What was next for the heroes? Did they part ways never to see each other again? He considered Adora - basically asleep at this point - and Ricardo, his eyes begging for more. They reminded him so much of him and his own siblings. All of them were his precious family. 

“They all stuck together,” Lance finally said. “Through their adventures they became good friends - even Keith. They were family and lived happily ever after.” 

He hoped his sad smile didn’t give him away. Keith was gone from the Garrison, only his records remained to beat, and his personality wasn’t really friendship material in the first place. He had a great camaraderie with Hunk, but Pidge wanted nothing to do with them. Lance would never meet Shiro, his hero lost to space in that tragic accident on the Kerberos mission. 

And aliens didn’t even exist.

He could work with Pidge, and he had Hunk in the meantime. Still, having a larger group of close friends that he could adventure with sounded nice. Lance had a lot of friends at the Garrison, but none of them were Hunk levels of friendship, or were teammates. 

Ricardo slumped against Lance’s shoulder. “I guess that works. You guys go on cool adventures together? Save the universe?” 

Lance snorted. “Heh, sure, that sounds pretty cool. I’m always down for a sequel. I have many hearts to woo after all,” he said proudly. “And we have to turn Shiro back into a knight.” He felt his nephew laugh.

“A paladin is way cooler,” his nephew joked. 

Lance rolled his eyes. “Whatever you want, it's your story.”

“Hey, Uncle Lance?” 

“Yeah?”

“If you ever meet an alien princess, I want to meet her too.”

Lance chuckled. “Sure, Ricky. You’ll be the first to know.” Dropping the book on his legs, he leaned over to grab his nephew in a one-armed hug. Once in tight, he dropped an affectionate kiss on the top of the boy’s forehead. “You get to bed, I’ll take care of your sister.”

Ricardo wrapped both arms around his uncle’s midsection. “I love you, Uncle Lance. We miss you a lot when you’re at school.”

“I miss you too, squirt. Don’t worry, summer’s almost here. Then I’ll be home for a few months after I beat all of Keith’s simulator records. We’ll have so much fun,” Lance promised.

“Count on it,” Ricardo agreed. 

Lance gently removed himself from the bed, letting Ricardo climb under the covers. He gently scooped Adora into his arms, careful not to wake her. He lay her on unicorn and crown-covered pink bed sheets just across the room, bending over to kiss her forehead before covering her with a quilt. 

Ricardo was already asleep by the time Lance made it to the door. He would miss these nights, and days fooling around on the beach with them.

The sound of the screen door creaking followed by hushed excitement of his siblings coming home dragged him from his reverie. It was definitely time for bed. He’d see what shenanigans were had and promise to go out with them when he was home for the summer. To his disappointment, he wouldn’t get much sleep tonight.

Sparing one last look at his brother’s kids, he flipped the light switch so the only light was that from the glow in the dark stars on the ceiling. Some things were worth not getting his beauty sleep for. 

~~ Roughly One Year Later ~~

Lance hadn’t broken any of Keith’s flight records. 

He’d met mermaids though. That had been awesome. 

“Lance, incoming on your six!” That was Pidge’s voice - who, as it turned out, had been a girl this entire time. He turned around on a dime to snag a headshot on the Galra sentry she had just warned him about. 

A split second after the sentry went down, Lance flattened himself against the floor, allowing two figures to fly just over him. Shiro and Allura cut down two more sentries just a few feet away. Lance turned towards them again, focusing and shooting at an additional two further down the hallway.

“Nice shot, Lance. Grab Keith and Hunk and meet us in the control room!” Shiro said, sprinting past the Blue Paladin and down the hallway he’d just cleared for them.

Lance had also learned Shiro hadn’t died on Kerberos. He had been abducted by aliens. Aliens existed. He found himself the pilot of a sentient robot ship (the best one of the five too), and part of the only group who stood between a free universe and an evil alien zombie emperor. 

Ricardo and Adora would love this, assuming he’d ever see them again. 

Lance activated his comm unit. “Hunk, buddy, gotta go. Sector Three is clear and Shiro and Allura are getting way ahead of us.”

A few seconds later, a red blur flew by. Keith wasn’t about to let Shiro out of his sight again if he could help it. The guy wasn’t too bad, as Lance now knew. They were working on some communication issues, but being a team came naturally now.

Hunk ran up to him, nearly breathless. “Keith runs...too fast…” he wheezed. 

“Take a few, dude,” Lance said, patting him on the back. “I think we got ‘em all. Pidge coming?”

A crackling noise turned their attention towards the wall next to them. They yelped in response to the wall melting and creating a giant hole. Pidge stood on the other side, smirking. 

“You called?”

“Woah, that was awesome, Pidge,” Lance finally said after getting his bearings. The awe over the new weapon overriding a trickling feeling of familiarity. “How’d you do it?”

“Bayard upgrade,” she responded, holding it up for them both to see, the other hand on her hip. “I totally am gonna test this in the lab when we get back to the Castle.”

“Uh, not without me,” Hunk interjected, an excited grin on his face. “That’s way cool!”

“Deal,” Pidge told him. “Are the others at the control room yet?”

“If not, they’re close,” Lance relayed. “Let’s go catch up.”

The trio ran down a series of predetermined hallways, bayards at the ready in case they had missed any sentries. Turning one last corner, they should have come into view of the control room, but they only had Keith ramming his own bayard into the door, attempting to pry it open. 

“Shiro and Allura are stuck on the other side!” he breathed desperately. “Haggar is here!” 

The name of Zarkon’s witch soon had all four teens struggling to open the door. Lance and Hunk leant their strength to help Keith while Pidge fiddled furiously with the panel. 

“One more wire,” Pidge mumbled. The lights flashed magenta and the door opened. “Go!” 

The stench of dark magic filled the air as soon as the group stumbled into the room. It created a dark mist, the only signs of an ongoing battle were yells and the glow of Shiro’s Galra arm. 

The floor shook from an impact within the smog, a pink energy emanated outwards - clearing the room and showing Allura encased with energy. Shiro breathed heavily in exhaustion, holding himself up on one knee.

No sign of the Witch. 

Lance lowered his bayard, the sounds of the rest of his team helping each other and comparing notes fading into the background. He was reminded of a night long ago, in a place billions of light years away where he and a team just like this, complete with an alien princess, had defeated a witch.

He didn’t notice his tears until Hunk set a concerned hand on his shoulder. 

“You alright, man?” he asked.

Lance inhaled, forcing the tears back for now. They’d be free to flow after the mission. Instead, he began to laugh, quickly crouching down in hysterics. 

“Dude, you are totally freaking me out right now,” Hunk said, twisting his head back to the rest of the team, and then back to Lance. “You didn’t catch some weird alien disease, did you? Oh man, I hope Coran has the medical files up to date.”

Lance wiped a tear from his eyes. “Naw, I’m fine, Hunk. This whole mission just reminded me of something from back home. I’ll be good.”

Who knew that reality would turn out to be just as wonderful and strange as the minds of two young kids. Well, Lance had a million more stories to share once they got home. For now, making safe the rest of the universe was top priority so that Adora and Ricardo would never have to learn about the action scenes first hand. 

Maybe he’d ask them for a fortune about his love life next time.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please drop me a note if you liked it! 
> 
> Find me on [Tumblr](https://rueitae.tumblr.com/)


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